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The Monday Round-Up: Beals and Blatchford Reign in Canada

Superb performances in North America, Asia, and Europe highlight a busy weekend of pro racing and a shuffling of the KPR.

Weekend at a Glance

IRONMAN Mont Tremblant

Beals and Blatchford victorous in Quebec

Antoine Jolicoeur Desroches (CAN), a local favorite in the Mont Tremblant area pleased his fan base from the get-go with a two and half minute lead coming out of the water. He stayed off the front for the opening km's of the bike, but forfeited the lead to a hard charging Cody Beals (CAN) at 55 km. Beals, making his debut at IRONMAN racing, was in uncharted waters once the bike went beyond 90 km. The multiple IRONMAN 70.3 winner put his head down and waited for the Sanders train to make its appearance.

Beals hit T2 with a jaw dropping 6:39 advantage over Sanders and a new bike course record to boot. The Canuck headed out on the run where the expectation was that Sanders would unleash his potent run and bridge the gap to Beals at some juncture. For the first 20 km, the script unfolded as expected as Sanders reduced his deficit to Beals to just under three minutes. Over the next 5 km, however, the wheels fell off Sanders' race and his deficit ballooned to close to five and half minutes. Beals continued his venture into the unknown on his maiden IRONMAN marathon journey and watched the gap to Sanders expand to over 13 minutes by the conclusion of the run. A humble Beals backed up his fastest bike split with a race best run of 2:49:22 to take the victory in a winning time of 8:10:36.

In the women's race, Lauren Brandon (USA) recorded the fastest swim on the day as expected and completed the bike with over five minutes on Liz Blatchford (AUS) and Meredith Kessler (USA).

Kessler started the run flying through the first 20 km and forged her way straight into the lead. At that time, Blatchford was mired in third, close to four minutes off the pace of the leader. However, the Australia found another gear and started inching her way towards the front as Kessler faltered.

Blatchford would become the third and final leader on the run at 34 km and powered her way towards the finish line for the win, with Brandon hanging gamely onto second just over a minute back of the leader.

IRONMAN Kalmar Sweden (Female Pro)

Abraham awesome in Sweden

Corinne Abraham nailed a personal best at IRONMAN Kalmar thanks to a brilliant performance just a few weeks out of the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona. The weather conditions were great when her compatriot Kimberley Morrison and Annie Thoren from Sweden opened up a fast race early in the water. When they exited the water after a little more than 52 minutes, the hunt was on.

Dede Griesbauer (USA) came out of the water in third a few meters in front of Abraham, but she had to call it a day on the bike due to feeling sick right after the start. Abraham and Griesbauer were five minutes down after the swim, but the 40-year old Brit really made use of the fast bike course after that. Abraham managed a sensational split in 4:34:32 and caught up with Morrison on the final kilometers of the bike course.

Although she had only an advantage of 23 seconds when she hit T2, Abraham was ready to go hard on the run. She increased her lead step by step and took a five-minute-benefit onto the second half of the run. While Abraham eventually smashed the course record stunningly, the 2012 champion Asa Lundstrom ran into the hearts of the crowd. The Swedish hero took second in her first ever sub-9-hour race in front of a strong Angela Naeth. Naeth rounded out the podium in great style, celebrating a huge comeback after being a diagnosed with Lyme disease in spring.

IRONMAN Copenhagen (Male Pro)

It was an exciting 2018 edition of the KMD IRONMAN Copenhagen. The conditions in the morning were perfect, the lagoon at Amager Strandpark was crowded and perfectly prepared for over 3,000 athletes.

From the beginning, all eyes were on the British pro Tim Don who suffered from a fractured cervical spine only a few days before racing the IRONMAN World Championship last year. He made his way back incredibly fast, aiming for the Kona slot here in Copenhagen. He made it out of the water third (45:56) after Jesper Svensson (DEN) and Johann Ackermann (GER) (both 45:54).

After T1 Tim Don quickly took over the lead on the bike. Looking strong he left his competitors Ackermann and Clemente Alonso-McKernan (ESP) behind. Another chasing group about 3 minutes behind consisted of Giulio Molinari (ITA), Boris Stein (GER), Sebastian Neef (GER), Cyril Viennot (FRA), Markus Fachbach (GER) and Kristian Høgenhaug (DEN). At about 50k,Alonso-McKernan took over second and decreased the gap between him and Don. At the begin of the second lap on the bike Alonso-McKernan overtook Don who fell back. Høgenhaug made it to second 125 k. Viennot came closer and Don was displaced to sixth.

Alonso-McKernan made it to T2 first almost 4 minutes ahead of Høgenhaug. Stein and Viennot followed another two minutes later. Despite being first on the marathon, Viennot soon showed his fast running legs and took over the lead. Don came back and ran up to second place again, Molinari third. But Don couldn’t keep his pace and at 25k fell back again. Viennot flew away, increasing the gap between him and his chasers Høgenhaug and Molinari by 4 minutes. Don dropped out of the race at 26k.

Viennot kept his constant pace and won his third IRONMAN with a new personal best and exciting sub-8 time of 7:59:52. Kristian Høgenhaug finished second in 8:02:53. The podium was completed by Giulio Molinari in 8:05:56.

IRONMAN 70.3 Dun Laoghaire

British pair super in World Championship shakedown

Two British hopefuls enjoyed a super final shakedown ahead of the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship with victories on a challenging course in Ireland. Last year’s world championship runner-up Emma Pallant and Elliot Smales claimed victories at IRONMAN 70.3 Dun Laoghaire on a new course that tested all with the ride in the famed Wicklow Mountains National Park.

Pallant was overtaken on the climbs by teak-tough 40-something Tine Deckers with the Belgian taking a 1:45 buffer on to the run. The young English star swallowed that up by the 7km mark with her 1:22 run on a tough day enough for the victory without exhausting all the fuel in the tank.

The windy chop and tides made for a super-challenging swim that opened some telling gaps, of which British star Elliot Smales took full advantage. He led with veteran Andy Potts onto the bike and took a three-minute lead on to the run with his 1:17 effort more than enough for a telling four-minute win from the American with local star Bryan McCrystal third.

IRONMAN 70.3 Bintan

Running legs prove best in Bintan

While the 2016 IRONMAN 70.3 world champion Tim Reed is not venturing to the 2018 edition in South Africa, the likable Australia is showing signs of returning to his irrepressible best when he ran his way to victory at IRONMAN 70.3 Bintan.

Reed bided his time as he and defending champion Mike Phillips shared the pace in the water and on the 90km ride. The Australian found his running legs with his 1:18 effort enough to ensure an emphatic six-minute win on the island resort.

He was unable to replicate his usual speedy shoes at the recent Asia-Pacific Championships when he had to be content with fourth, but there was no doubting his presence on the run in Bintan to finish clear of Phillips with compatriot Matt Burton prevailing in third, nearly 10 minutes back.

Running legs was the order of the day in the women also, where American Beth McKenzie scorched though the field with her 1:24 effort in the heat and humidity—more than enough to ensure a comeback victory after two years out of the sport.

Hungary’s Anna Eberhardt, who is based in nearby Singapore, chased down a six-minute deficit out of the water to join McKenzie, Kate Bevilaqua and swim leader Kirralee Seidel together at the end of the bike.

McKenzie pushed to the lead 5km into the run and her 1:24 effort led to a six-minute buffer for the win ahead of Eberhardt with new pro Sabrina Stadelmann (CHE) grabbing her first podium.

The Buzz: Wellness Edition

Welcome to the wellness edition of The Buzz, where we ask "what can’t triathlon cure?" In this week’s news cycle it appears that triathlon, and more specifically IRONMAN triathlon, can cure EVERYTHING.

Your choice: a walker or a tri-bike

The resume of triathlete Debora Pfaff reads like a typical IRONMAN overachiever. Debora’s day job is COO of the National Intelligence University, where she trains intelligence analysts. In her off-time Debora races IRONMAN triathlons. But unlike the athletes lining up next to her, Debora has 56.9% the lung function of a normal person. In 2009, Debora deployed to Iraq as an intelligence officer. And, "like one-third of my military brethren who served in Southwest Asia, I developed Gulf War Illness (GWI)," said Debora.

Now Debora, shown in a recent press release holding a tri bike and a walker, is swimming, cycling and running for her life. “Triathlon training literally saved my life,” Debora explained. "And it’s given me a quality of life that other GWI sufferers who have ‘better numbers’ than me just don’t have.” Debora is raising money for next-gen treatment for GWI patients (including 500,000+ military Veterans) on her Mt. Sinai fundraising page.

IRONMAN: cutting edge treatment for NFL players?

In an interview last week for WiscNews, former NFL player Don Davey (of the Green Bay Packers and Jacksonville Jaguars) advocates for endurance sports to halt Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). Davey works with Dr. Ann McKee, M.D., director of Boston University’s CTE Center, and one of TIME magazines’ 100 most influential people of 2017.

"The best thing you can do for anybody that’s had any kind of traumatic brain injury is endurance exercise—long-distance running, biking, swimming," Davey said. The football star has now completed 10 IRONMAN races, including IRONMAN Kona. Davey’s goal is to create a future event with the IRONMAN Foundation and other NFL players to support McKee’s research. Why not stick to shorter endurance events? "I played a long time in the NFL," explained Davey. "I had a bunch of concussions. I did the research, and it says the more you oxygenate your brain, the better."

The Iron Nun rides again

Triathlon training may keep CTE and GWI at bay – but is IRONMAN also the cure for old age? Sister Madonna Buder, affectionately known as the Iron Nun, is one data point that suggests the answer is a resounding YES! The current world record holder for oldest woman to ever finish an IRONMAN Triathlon (age 82 at Subaru IRONMAN Canada) just racked up another USAT National Championship win in the 85-89 category. A 2016 Nike ad calls it unlimited youth. But we just call it "what we want to be when we grow up."

Instagram of the Week

And then there’s @commandersnake. You may have to grow old, but you don’t have to grow up. #forthoseabouttorockwesaluteyou